Railway track skate



y 1:935. H. BONE 2,002,217

RAILWAY TRACK SKATE Filed Dec; 10, 1952 INVENTOR Herbert L,B01ze BY 2 IHIS A TTORNEY Patented May 21, 1935 RAILWAY Tammie-413E, V Herbert L.Bone, Swissvala'Tai: assignor'td'lhe V 5 Union Switch & Signal Company,Swissvale, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 10,1932 Serial No. 646,644

5 Claims.

My invention relates to railway track skates of the spring tail type,and has for an object the provision of means for preventing unduebending of the tail portion while occupied by the wheel of a car. Morespecifically, my present invention is an improvement on the skate shownin Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,851,347, granted to M. B.Cameron on March 29, 1932. 1

I will describe one form of skate embodying my invention, and will thenpoint out the novel features thereof in claims.

The accompanying drawing is a view showing in side elevation, partlysectioned, one form of skate embodying my invention.

Referring to the drawing, the skate comprises a body portion A, theunderside of which is provided with a longitudinal recess 4 to receivethe head of a track rail R. This body portion is cut off at the point 2to form a stub end from which the upper surface 3 curves upwardly toreceive a car wheel. This upper surface is provided with a slight convexbulge at the point 8, to prevent a car wheel which is in place on theskate from rolling backwardly off the skate. The tread of a car wheelwhich'is in its final position on the skate is indicated by the line 9.

The skate also comprises a spring steel tail B, one end of which isattached to the upper surface of the stub end of the body portion A, andthe other end of which rests on track rail R. The upper surface of thebody portion A is preferably provided with a longitudinal recess 6extending inwardly from the stub end 2 to accommodate the tail B, sothat the upper surface of the tail lies flush with the upper surface ofthe body member A. As here shown, the tail B is attached to the bodymember A by rivets 5.

The tail B is provided with supporting means at an intermediate point.As here shown this means is a filler block C which is attached to theunder surface of the tail B between the stub end 2 and the free end ofthe tail. This block may be of such thickness that it is normally spacedfrom the rail R, and as here shown, the

vertical thickness of the block Cis greater at the end nearer to theskate body portion than at the end nearer to the free end of the tail B,so that when the block C rests on the track rail R, the upper surface ofthis block will form an inclined plane. The block C may equally well beof such thickness as to rest normallyon the rail, and it may be formedas an integral part of the spring tail. Its effect may also be producedby suitable bends in the spring tail, and in short, my

invention contemplates any means for supporting the spring tail.

When a car wheel encounters the skate, it first rolls upwardly on thefree end of the tail B, and in so doing it deflects the tail until theblock C rests on the surface of the rail. The wheel then continues toroll upwardly on the inclined plane formed by the tail, until it finallyreaches a point where it rides on the convex bulge 8 of the skate body.A slight further forward motion of the wheel results in a downwardmovement thereof, so that when it finally reaches the position indicatedby the line 9, it will have no tendency to roll backwardly oif theskate.

In theabsence of the filler block C, and under certain adverseconditions, such as a wet or slippery rail, the friction of the skate ona rail may not be sufiicient to overcome the horizontal reaction whichmust be resisted in order to cause the wheel to be raised from the thintail B to the thick section of the skate body at the stub end 2. Bysupporting the tail B at an intermediate point, this difiiculty isavoided and a car wheel will ride upwardly onto the skate under allreasonable conditions.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of skateembodying my invention, it is understood that various changes andmodifications may be made therein within the scope of the appendedclaims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

l. A railway track skate comprising a body portion having a stub end, aspring steel tail having one end attached to the upper surface of thestub end of said body portion and its other end resting on the trackrail, and a filler block attached to the under surface of said tail andnormally spaced from the track rail for supporting the tail while a carwheel is rolling upwardly thereon.

2. A railway track skate comprising a body portion having a stub end, aspring steel tail having one end attached to the upper surface of thestub end of said body portion and its other end resting on the trackrail, and a filler block attached to the under surface of said tail forsupporting the tail while a car wheel is rolling upwardly thereon, thevertical thickness of said block being greater at the end nearer to theskate body than at the end adjacent the free end of the tail so thatwhen the block rests on the track rail its upper surface forms aninclinedplane.

3. A railway track skate compr sing a body portion having a stub end anda slight convex bulge on its wheel engaging surface near the stub end toprevent a wheel from rolling backwardly off the skate, a thin springsteel tail having one end attached to the upper surface of the stub endof said body portion and its other end resting on the track rail, andsupporting means located at an intermediate point on said tail toprevent undue bending of the tail while a car wheel is rolling upwardlythereon;

4. A railway track skate comprising a body portion having a stub end, aspring steel tail having one end attached to the upper surfaceof thestub end of said body portion and its other end resting on the trackrail, and means located at an intermediate point on said tail forpreventing undue bending of said tail while a car wheel is ridingupwardly thereon.

5. A railway track skate comprising a body portion having a stub end, aspring steel tail having one end attached to the upper surface of thestub end of said body portion and its other end resting on thetrackrail, and a filler block attached to said tail at an intermediate pointon the tail for supporting the tail from the track rail while a carwheel is riding upwardly on the tail.

HERBERT L. BONE.

